


Invader Intervention

by bye_breeze



Category: Hauntswitch, Hiveswap, Homestuck
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Kidnapping, Post-Canon, eventual hurt/comfort, graphic description of injuries coming up, gratuitous violence against dammek, jude tries his best, the writing gets better at like ch 3 ;-;, very bad interrogation methods
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-09
Updated: 2020-12-09
Packaged: 2021-03-05 03:08:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 11,233
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25157509
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bye_breeze/pseuds/bye_breeze
Summary: (title is subject to change)I started writing this in january of 2018 and just discovered it in my docs, figured i'd post it for archival purposes4AANND... since Act 2 came out, I'm writing more for this... yayy!Post-canon beta kids find out about the hive swapping and decide to protect the Earth from the new Alternian arrival.
Relationships: Dammek & Jude Harley
Comments: 18
Kudos: 59





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> please bear with the writing - it does get better in a few chapters

“What?!” Jade shouted, thin dog ears pinning to Her head. 

“I said,”

The Seer had Her brows furrowed, like she was having trouble understanding Her own words. 

“An Alternian invader has arrived on Earth.” 

John leaned back into His chair and let out a long groan. 

“No,” He whined, “Not yet, everything was going so well!” 

Dave leaned forward, hunching over the table and drumming His fingers on the perfectly smooth surface nervously.

“We can take care of this, though,” He said, looking up at the congregation of Gods. “Nip it in the bud, before they can get any word out that it's a good planet? We got the fish-bitch off our lil’ wagging tails, it wouldn't be too hard to erase a couple scrappy…” 

He hesitated. 

“...invaders..”

“But how do you suppose we do that?” John rolled His eyes. He was digging His fingertips into the table so tightly the Gods worried the wood would snap. “We don't even know where the trolls even landed, or how many are on the fleet!”

Rose’s lips thinned into a line. “We can watch the news, do a quick sweep of each country and narrow it down, and,” She looked at Dave for a second and he frowned, “Dave could send us a clue… from the future.” 

Jade allowed Her ears to raise up a bit. “Sounds good, though it's weird that this is happening,”

“What do you mean?” Asked Dave, sounding genuinely confused.

“Well, I don't remember any major news stories about any aliens from the 90’s happening in the USA.” 

“Well, duh.” huffed John. “The government would keep it under wraps.” 

Rose’s thin-lipped grimace twitched. “John, the government doesn't do that, and we’re almost certain this is a separate timeline.” 

“No, the government hides things, Rose! They don't tell anyone what's going on, I was watching a video and-” John was cut off by a soft sound of static crackling and a paper appearing on the table. 

HAUNTSWITCH, NEW YORK

-

“Damn,” The Knight said, picking up the paper gingerly. “So, we gotta capture the troll and their fleet. And then… send them back, or something. Anyone have any plans?” 

John huffed disappointedly, and there was an uncomfortable silence as the Gods tried to think of an alternative. “What if we just go and get them? Just walk in and capture them?” Asked Dave, sounding a bit uncertain.

“I mean, we could,” Rose sighed. “But I don’t think whoever’s hosting these trolls will take too kindly to four strangers bursting into their homes.” 

“Hosting?!” shouted John. “You mean someone’s keeping alien invaders in their home voluntarily?” 

“Duh,” scoffed the Witch, “How else would a crew of Alternians hide on Earth? Rent out a hotel room? There's no rainforest in New York to set up camp in.”

Dave shifted. “Guys, calm down, we can handle this.” 

Worry was evident on His face, even behind the obnoxious aviators.  
Jade sighed, sitting down in the seat She had not recognized getting up from. John cleared His throat, blue eyes scanning the faces of His immortal friends for a second before speaking. 

“How about, FBI? Like, uh, Men In Black?” 

Rose’s eyebrows raised. She opened her mouth to interject, but closed it. Her lips relaxed and She hummed thoughtfully. “That could work…” said Dave, hushed. “It wouldn’t be too hard to impersonate a Federal Agent, I mean, they do it all the time on TV!” said John, apparently happy his plan had gotten taken into consideration.

“But Jade would have to do it.” Rose said suddenly. We-” She gestured to Herself and the boys. “-could be discovered.” She was right, of course. John, Dave and Herself were waiting to re-emerge into society, and a sighting this close to their ‘disappearances’ could land them in deep shit.

“Okay,” 

“Anything to protect Earth, huh?”

“Yeah,” replied Jade, smoothing Her unkempt hair back over the large white dog ears.

-

Hours in the future, but not many...

There was a knocking at the door. Jude instinctively got up to retrieve his babysitter, but realized she was at work, being a scientist and all. It had been about two days since his sister had been swapped with a certain Tetrarch Dammek. After the initial confusion of “Oh my, there seems to be an alien!” and “Oh my, I seem to be on a different planet!”, Dammek had taken to holing down in the basement during the afternoon, maybe to sleep? Jude wasn’t very sure. 

It was pretty late, if the yellow-orange sunset was any indication. Jude skillfully stepped over trash and discarded toys for a good 3 minutes before arriving at the front door. More knocking. “Hello?” called a woman’s voice. “This is the Federal Bureau of Intelligence, if I could speak to you for a moment,” Jude paled. He had been waiting to hear those words for years, but not now! Not when he had an actual alien in his basement! He stood stock still in front of the door.

Knocking again. “The lights are on, I know someone’s in here.” Jude knew that, legally, he could refuse, but that would make him seem suspicious, and if the agent came back with a warrant and a team, Dammek would be gone for sure! He shuddered to think what the Government could do with a real-life alien, probably dissect him or run tests or-  
The woman knocked harder. “FBI, open the door, please.” she sounded like she was getting impatient. 

Jude rose a shaky hand to the doorknob, unlocked it, and creaked open the door.

A tall woman stood outside, wearing (what Jude assumed to be) standard FBI clothes. Black pantsuit, white undershirt and tie. Her hair was styled perfectly, reaching down to her knees in length.  
“Oh, hello.” she said, sounding a bit surprised. She gave Jude a quick once over and crouched a bit so she was on his level. She gently handed him a leather-bound badge. “I’m Jade Harley, FBI.”

-

Jade hadn’t expected a small child to answer the door. She went through her lines and showed the boy her expertly created FBI badge. She became a bit worried when the boy began inspecting it closely, tilting his head and squinting at her picture. “You seem to be familiar with this kind of situation, huh?” She asked, trying to divert the kid’s attention. His head snapped up and he returned his gaze slowly, almost like he was trying to stall.  
“Uh, no Miss, Er-I like the TV show...s, like uh, the X Files, and uhm,” the boy stuttered, obviously nervous.  
“Is your guardian around?” Jade asked sweetly, almost condescendingly.  
“No, she won't be back until tomorrow.” He said quickly, most likely to prevent any more nervous stutters.  
“May I come in?” She asked, hands on her knees. The boy nodded and stepped back. Jade stretched her legs for a moment before thanking the boy and carefully stepping inside.  
\--  
Jude could feel the hair on his neck standing on end as the agent stood to her full height. Although he wasn't very big for his age, the woman stood almost twice as tall as him, probably a good two heads above the alien he had in his basement. The woman not-so-subtly scanned the area. He noticed a slight twitch in her nose when she saw the mess of toys scattered around and slightly blushed in embarrassment. “What's your name, young man?” The woman was staring at him intensely, one eyebrow raised in suspicion? maybe intrigue? 

“Jude Harley, miss.” He replied, albeit nervously. Her eyebrows skyrocketed, not a good sign. The boy thought. “We have the same last name, isn't that lovely!” Jade practically purred, but then she seemed to notice something. “Say, Jude, you wouldn't happen to be related to Jake Harley, great explorer?” Jude gulped. He used to flaunt his namesake when he was younger, bragging about his father’s accomplishments. That didn't happen so much after he started leaving for long periods and Joey disowned him.”...yes.” He said, “but uh, he's not around right now, he's busy, uh, exploring.” The agent looked back at him with an expression that Jude couldn't place. They looked at each other for a long while. It was incredibly awkward and strangely tense.

Jade broke the silence. “Alright, I’m here for a reason, Jude. There have been reports of strange activities around this area. The Federal Bureau of Intelligence thinks it could be.. extraterrestrial.” Jude gave a small gasp, feigning shock. “Really!?” He tried to sound excited. “Aliens?” Jade seemed to smile for a split second, but dropped it almost instantaneously. He gulped.  
The agent dropped to his level again and looked him dead in the eyes. Jude felt cold and he tried to focus on not breaking eye contact. “Jude, tell me, have you seen anything?” 

i  
-

Jude shook his head furiously. “Nothing, ma’am!”

Jade didn't drop her steely gaze. “Absolutely nothing? Not even some odd behavior with a classmate, or a neighbor?” The boy shook his head again. “Nothin’” Jade knew he was lying. The smell of deceit weighed heavy in the air and the Goddess was not about to call it quits. “You don't mind if I take a look around, would you?” Jade said sweetly. She felt like an ass, searching this tiny kid’s house for a dangerous alien invader. Especially since that tiny kid was her uncle? Brother? Fuck Grandpa Harley and his mystery kids! “No, miss, I don't mind.” Paranoia was coming off the kid in heavy waves and Jade was about to leave when her sensitive ears picked up the soft sound of a gun loading. 

Growing up with thousands of guns and knowing how to use them, Jade could pretty much instantly recognize the make and sometimes brand of gun upon sight, and sound was no different. Peculiarly, she didn't recognize that particular ka-chunk and click. She followed the sound without another word to the boy. As she was walking towards the kitchen, the faint smell of blood and metal reached her. 

She could feel the vibrations in the space under and behind her as Jude ran to catch up. “It's very messy in the kitchen!” He said. “Just a fair warning,” he laughed weakly, out of breath and incredibly nervous. She opened the heavy door and was hit with the overpowering scent of trash and dog food. “Jude, you have a dog?” She asked offhandedly and looked over at the brand new bag of kibble. Jude smiled. “Yeah! Her name is Tesseract, she's such a good dog. Why do you ask?” Jade knew he was trying to stall. Jade knew she was close to the Alternian’s hideout. The smell of blood was almost completely overpowered by garbage, but Jade knew it was there. “It's just that I had a dog, too.” She smiled, but didn't look down at the boy. She was searching for the door to the basement. 

This was not good. The agent was totally suspicious of him! Jude felt nauseous thinking about what would happen to the paranoid deertroll if the government got their mitts on him. He snapped out of his thoughts as the woman started to exit the kitchen. She was definitely searching for something, and her strides were so long Jude had to sprint to keep up. 

Jade was approaching the basement door, fast. He almost wished his dinner would come up, so that it would distract the huge woman into forgetting about her search, if only for a couple minutes. She turned the knob. Panic surged through Jude and he did something without thinking. He purposely stepped on a little plastic horse, the tiny hooves stabbing into him.

He shouted and Jade turned around immediately. “Are you okay?” She asked. “What happened?” Jude let out a whine, falling cross-legged on the floor, clutching his foot. “Ow, ow!” He cried, hoping it was believable enough. “I stepped- ah- on a-!” he choked on his words. The pain had faded after the offending equine had detached itself, but Jude needed to (futile) buy time.

Jade dropped to her knees in a hurry. “Is it bleeding? How bad does it hurt?” She fretted. Jude had noticed how… kind, no... how casual this agent was. The woman acted only.. sort of like the stone-cold, steely bastards on television. Like she was failing an act or something. She reached for his foot (still clutched in both of his hands), but faltered and the worried expression faded a bit. Jude let out a shaky breath, wiping the water out of his eyes. “Ah- i think it might've broken the ski-”There was a loud crash from the basement.

Jade rose in an instant. She broke out into a dead sprint to the end of the hallway, not bothering to look at Jude.He got up and ran after her, trying to chase her down, to stop her. “Miss Harley, wait!” He practically screamed. “Please, don't go down there!” 

Jade stopped in front of the door, hand hovering above the knob. “Jude,” she said, turning around slowly. “There's aliens in your basement, right?”

-

The boy was trembling. The scent of fear was awfully heavy, blocking Jade’s nose with it’s acrid musk. He looked about to cry. It was obvious he didn't know the alternian’s true mission. Tricky fuckers probably told the boy they were runaways, the last of their kind in need of shelter, some poor, friendly aliens “just wishing to survive”. Jade’s gut twisted in disgust. “Jude, they're not who they say they ar-” the boy began to sob, effectively cutting the woman off. 

“P-please, Miss Harley-” he choked out. “He hasn't done anythin’, don't take h-” he gasped “-him away, he just wants to go ba-back home!” The boy scrubbed at his eyes. Jade felt her stomach sink. He looked too much like Jake, too much like John. “Hey now, Jude, I’m gonna need you to breathe..” she reached out a hand toward him, but he flinched away. “Puh-please!” He wailed, his words almost incomprehensible. “Ah, shh, shh-” Jade tried hushing the boy, trying to make him stop bawling. “N-no!” The boy cried. It was reminiscent of a temper tantrum, just with a heaping dose of foul-smelling fear. The door knocked into her back. A gunshot fired. Jude screamed.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> dammeks side of the 1st chapter, and violence

Dammek had been asleep when Jude first let the stranger in. He had woken up when he heard voices in the hallway. He was frightened initially, but realized it was probably just Jude’s odd human “babysitter” coming back for a rest. He shuffled around the block idly, comparing Jude’s guns to his own. He tried inserting a human bullet into one of his favorite pistols, but the chamber was much too thin. He leaped up when he heard a familiar voice shriek in pain. 

The cry was muffled by the walls, but Dammek picked it up right away. There was another voice, too. Deep and rumbling, almost directly above him. That was definitely not Jude’s “babysitter”. Dammek wiped his sweaty palms on his shitty sweatpants. The thin white lusus hairs stuck to his damp hands and he gulped nervously. He shuffled back into a pile of taxidermied serpents, but tripped over a stray tail and fell backwards into the scaly beasts, effectively making a huge ruckus. Dammek shivered as angry footsteps paced above him. 

He bolted up from the pile, nervous energy flowing through his bloodstream like a wildfire. The offending human definitely knew he was down here, there was no sense in hiding. His arms felt numb as he collected his rifles, putting on a brave face and creaking up the stairs. He could hear Jude wailing and sobbing in the hallway. Just what was the stranger doing?! Dammek heard Jude scream, and burst through the door. 

The door connected with something solid and Dammek panicked. He pulled the trigger on his gun. Jude screamed. The stranger snarled.

-

Finally, the asshole appears. 

Jade hadn't yet seen the asshole in question, but boy, was she ready to fuck their shit UP. “Stop! Don’t shoot again.” She shouted from behind the door. She was not trapped, but she was hidden from view. Jude went silent, trying not to sniffle. She felt the other move toward the young boy and she repeated herself, this time in alternian. She probably had a horrible accent, but he froze. She pushed the door out of her way, letting it close slowly. 

The troll was pretty small. Smaller than Jade had expected, anyway. Her eyes flickered to the troll’s shirt, finding a large bronze sign emblazoned on the dusty hoodie. Huh. She was at least expecting a midblood. Her eyes drifted back to its face. To say it looked scared was an understatement, the kid looked absolutely horrified. She couldn't see it’s eyes through the dark sunglasses but the open mouthed frown displayed the overwhelming emotion of fear well enough. The troll began to make a noise, reminiscent to a hiss or a growl, but soon escalated into a shriek when she suddenly lunged forward. Jade pounced on the troll, knocking it’s gun out of reach and pinning it to the ground. The scent of fear punched her in the nose as the enhanced gravity slammed her body onto it with intense force. Jude screamed and began to try and push Jade as she snarled at the troll. In reply, the troll screamed and thrashed, trying to break it’s hands away from the Witch’s grip. “Let me go! Stop, get off of me!” It shrieked, speaking remarkably good English. Jude was crying something awful, hiccuping and pushing and pulling at Jade’s back as she dug her sharp nails into the bronzeblood’s hands and wrists. The troll kicked up into Jade’s belly, hitting her stomach with it’s steel-tipped boots. She howled in pain right next to its face and it winced and shrieked, snapping at her nose and face with incredibly sharp teeth. Jade pushed herself up for a second and changed her grip to the troll’s neck. It flailed, claws scratching at Jade’s hands wrapped around its throat and up her arms as her grip tightened. Jude had given up trying to get the agent to stop her attack and ran for the phone in the kitchen. Jade’s mind was hazy with adrenaline and rage but she could hear the boy talking, “R- come ba- hel- i-” came the muffled sobbing through the wall. 

She growled and the troll coughed out a cry in Alternian, from what Jade could understand it sounded like a prayer, or maybe just an exclamation of “No!” over and over again. She was too rusty to decipher a bunch of fucking bug sounds. She brought the troll up and brought it's head down onto the hardwood. It gasped and fell limp, effectively knocked out.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the beta kids become acquainted w/ dammek

When Dammek awoke, his senses returned to him one by one. Tasted blood, smelled metal. Heard faint buzzing and it was freezing. It was too bright, and even with his eyes shut the light still hurt like a thousand raging suns. The troll could hear his bloodpusher pounding as he realized he was in a sitting position, wrists and ankles bound. He cried out, pushing up on his constraints and wriggling around in his seat, futilely trying to escape. His nerves were on fire and he noticed his hoodie and shoes were gone. He could feel the scratches around his neck flare up and he remembered the human, no, the  _ adult _ human that had attacked him and Jude. 

“Fuck!” He shouted, voice hoarse. “Jyuude, what’d y’ do with Ju-juude, _assholes_!” 

The troll was filled to the brim with anxiety and rage, all of the movement beginning to rub his ankles and wrists raw. Sweeps of training to be a Tetrarch and this is all he could do? Get beat up by a fleshy alien adult and captured without making a dent. He cursed again, rocking furiously in the chair. 

A loud slam came from outside and he froze, stock still. A door creaked and a clacking of shoes on the floor. His body felt hot and sweat covered his body in a translucent sheen. He heard a chair grind against the floor and whined. 

“I turned the light down for you, open your eyes.” Came an unfamiliar human voice. 

Dammek warily cracked his eyes open, catching a blurry picture of another adult human. His breath hitched and his bloodpusher was beating faster than it was before. The rage he was feeling drained, replaced by more fear. Adults, why are they even on this planet, why. The human appeared to be a male, but he looked nothing like Jude. Different nose, different unnatural-looking skin tone, and lusus-white hair like the Babysitr.

“So much for your superior features.” Said the human.

Dammek failed to hold back a breathless sound of confusion.

“I mean-you guys are always talking about how humans are inferior.”

Dammek’s mind raced. _You guys?_ _Are there other trolls on this planet?_ Dammek kept his mouth shut. He lost against the first human, this time could be different. 

The human raised his eyebrows. “Not gonna say anything? Guess they trained you better at Invader School than expected.” 

_Invader? _

_ School?  _

His mind tried to fill in the blanks.

“We thought maybe you'd be easier to crack, what with you being, six?”

The human was definitely bating him, trying to get him to correct him. The human’s dark sunglasses unnerved him, and suddenly he realized his own were missing. Dammek tried to reach around to feel for them but was hindered by the chains. The human resumed talking. 

“Hmmm, so, what's your name? I know you're a bronzeblood, but i'm not sure what you guys do, like, on a fleet, you guys do animal stuff, right? You definitely look like a deer, but there aren’t any animals in space, so why would they need to send you, unless there  _ are _ animals in space,  _ or  _ you're here to turn all the animals against us…can you guys do that? I’m actually not sure. You would totally know though,” the human rambled on.

Dammek was getting tired of his voice. That was weird too, the adult (fuck) sounded different from Jude, there was a sort of  _ accent _ that he had never heard before, not even from Jude's weird action movies with really short titles. Even stranger was the  _ knowledge _ the adult possessed. Jude had said that he’d never heard of trolls, that humans didn't have different blood colors or psychic abilities, but this guy seemed to know plenty. 

“Hey, hey,” the human snapped his fingers, drawing Dammek’s gaze to him. “I really don't want to kill you, man,”

Dammek gulped. Jude said this planet was much safer than Alternia and that The Babysitr wouldn't hurt him, despite her being very much an adult. Either Jude was wrong, or these humans were very,  _ very _ violent outliers. 

“Blood sucks to clean up, even if it’s candy-colored. This room was just cleaned.”

Dammek took in a deep breath and hated how shaky it was. He wasn't going to cooperate with these bastards, especially after what that one did to Jude. Fuck. Jude, he had asked about Jude earlier. Did they even have him? Did they just leave him alone? The question burned in his throat as he struggled to keep his silence. It was hard being on the receiving end of an interrogation. 

The human sighed loudly, and proceeded to place his chin in his hands, seemingly bored. 

“Dude. Work with me. You're a little troll, captured, all by yourself. You can't kill me, and I've got an entire team as backup.” 

Dammek flushed bronze, once again remembering his failure against the adult that attacked him and Jude.  _ Jude. _ He can't stop thinking about him. Was he okay? He left him in his hive-manor-thing with that freaky adult, and now here he was, totally captured, faced with an entirely different adult who was threatening to paint the walls with his blood like some kind of juggalo freak, and he had no guns, he didn't e _ven have his glasses, and_ ,

“Jegus fuck calm yourself. What do you guys say? Shoosh? Wait- am I allowed to say that? Is that promiscuous, or something? Am I making you commit infidelity here?”

Dammek's attention shifted away from his rapid thoughts. What the fuck was the adult even saying?  _ He _ was sort of sounding like a 6 sweep old, just talking and talking _and_ _talking_.

“Is that like. Infringing on your relationship with anyone?”

Silence.  _ Huh. _

“I actually don't know how old you are so, like, fill me in on that one before we both get 50 years.”

Silence.  _ What. _

“Damn. I literally have never had to get answers out of one of you. I lied earlier. I'm not gonna spill any of your blood. Shit’s nasty, ‘specially when it's fuckin’ sewage colored.” 

Dammek cringed. Didn't all humans have the same blood color? How is this one acting hemophobic right now? A lot of things didn't add up about the adult, but he kept his mouth shut. 

He simply glared at the adult though the dim light, barely suppressing a hiss from escaping his mouth, overflowing with illformed sharp canines. The human held back a laugh. 

“Dude. Chief. Sir. I’m begging you man. Take the easy way out, spill your beans. If not to me, I’m gonna be forced to send in my buddies, and they don't have any issue with dealing with any of your shit-colored blood.”

The violent hemophobia flew straight over Dammek’s head. He was still stuck on what the human meant by “beans”. What the fuck are  _ beans _ . Did he mean spill his organs? Some of those could be called beans, he assumed. But why would he want him to cut himself open? Unless the human was using reverse psychology or just being intentionally confusing by lying, there wouldn't be any reason he’d want to see blood, right?

“Beans?” He muttered.

Dammek’s hands flew up to cover his mouth, but they were chained to the table. His entire body burned hot. The adult was staring at him behind dark sunglasses. Fuck. Dammek wanted  _ his _ sunglasses. Anything to hide his eyes right now. 

“Beans.” The adult echoed.

Dammek stared at him. He nodded slightly under that unwavering black gaze. He never really was good under pressure.

The adult flipped a finger up to point at Dammek, causing him to flinch at the sheer speed. 

“Are you asking me what a bean is?”

Dammek nodded, not daring to blink. 

The adult brought his hand towards Dammek’s face, making Dammek yelp and snap at him before trying to distance himself.  _ Fuck. _ Every single ounce of composure was gone. His hand was so fucking  _ big _ . It looked like it could wrap around his neck easily. Maybe it would. He felt his bloodpusher pumping harder. The other adult seemed to have no problem with her attempt to crush his windpipe, he could have died back then, had his neck snapped and just died right there in Jude’s hallway. He didn't even manage to say goodbye to Xefros. Fuck, he never got to say goodbye to Jude, didn't get to say goodbye to his fucking planet. 

The hand was on his face. He bit into it, tasting hot, hot cherry blood gushing out. It was gross- it was disgusting it was-  _ unnatural- _

The human didn't pull back, just kept his  _ giant hand, encompassing over half of his fucking face, cupping his jaw slightly with it’s fingers just  _ resting. On his face. The human was making this sort of look, and  _ SHIT- _ Dammek jerked back, shouting something incoherent, trying to get away from the human’s _ warm fucking HAND _ . He started to fall back. The table was pulled down along with him. He screamed, the human was shouting, there was the sound of a door slamming open and then there was the sound of Dammek’s head hitting the floor and then none at all. 

\---

“...serious, this isn't like-”

“No we can't …

“...I know that,”

… 

“Oh Jegus I think he’s awake.”

Three looming shadows blotted his vision, black silhouettes cut by the blinding light behind them. This poetic prose was cut off by his short shriek upon realizing where he was. He jerked back, but was unable to actually move. He shuddered violently, squinting up at the faces beginning to register in his mind. 

He recognized the male from earlier, with those giant dark shades and shock of white hair, he’d have to be an idiot not to. Or a wriggler with no sense of object permanence, whatever 'permanence" meant. 

The other two, however, he couldn't very well place. One had nice, healthy black hair, familiar, natural black hair, good, normal black and a nose that had a subtle little tweak in it that made it look a lot like Jude’s. 

Where was Jude anyway? Did the adults just leave him there? Did they take him, too? Was Jude looking for him? What sort of things were these adults going to do?

“Uhh, do they normally do that?” 

He saw the Jude-like human talking out of the corner of his eye, but the dialogue sounded off. Like it was improperly synced up with it’s mouth. Dammek attempted to jerk his head towards the sound, but he felt a rush in his pan and, pushing down nausea, aborted the motion.

“Oh yeah, no, not at all. Definitely not normal troll behavior. Hey buddy, hey,”

Was the male talking to him? His lip curled in annoyance. He talked at him for 10 minutes at most, and the adult had insulted his blood multiple times, tried to attack him (or was that some kind of human romantic advance? he would've shuddered had his limbs not been jelly), and rendered him unconscious. They weren't human ‘buddies’. 

A loud cracking sound popped next to his ear, twice in succession. He tried to flinch away but his movements were too sluggish, so he sort of shifted. 

“I didn't think trolls could  _ have _ concussions.” Said another voice, unfamiliar. He turned his blurry eyesight to the side. Standing over him, short, white, lusus hair, deep,  _ violet _ eyes shadowed, yet familiar. He didn't know this human, but it seemed like he’d seen it before. 

“His eyes are  _ seriously _ unfocused. How’d he even hit his head this hard? Hey little man, you got troll osteoporosis or something? Few soft spots?” 

Dammek furrowed his brows, willing his burning eyes to stay open.  _ Is he teasing? What the fuck is going on..? _ His mouth opened slightly, but only some jumbled hissing and half-assed vowel sounds came out. He couldn't find the energy to speak. 

“Should we just put him out? We gotta wait for Jade to get back if we wanna get  _ something _ done around here.”

“Fuck off dude, it was part of my plan. Also, no, I’m like seventy-percent certain that you're supposed to not hit somebody with a concussion on the head.”

“Con...cushion?” He slurred. That's the second time he’d heard the word, and he assumed they were talking about him when they mentioned ‘somebody’. He didn't have shit. They took his hoodie and his guns. His fucking nubs were bare, he didn't have anything. He tried focusing his gaze, but all he really saw was the humans’ shadowed eyes locked on him. That's bad, isn't it?

“See, I told you he knows jack shit.” He could tell this was the male from before, he was starting to recognize the accent was different from the rest of the humans. 

“That doesn’t mean anything substantial. He doesn't know what _beans_ are and he doesn't know what a concussion is. That does not mean he has no clue how to scout a fucking territory.” That was the other white haired one. It seemed angry with the male, but the male didn't sound frightened in the least. 

His brain was getting a bit less foggy. He felt his subconscious forcing himself to think clearly. Identify the situation. How long had he been unconscious? How long had he been sitting here since he woke up?  _ Where the fuck is Jude? _

“How..” he mumbled again, words jumbling in his pan and out of his mouth. “... where is..?” His head turned, surging nausea up his throat. He swallowed the vomit as soon as it came up, the little effort of him speaking and moving was apparently too much for his body. 

“How? What do you mean “ _ how” _ ? And where is what? Where is you?” That's the black haired one. It's voice was sort of nasally right now, not like how he remembered it just a few moments ago… but he actually can't really remember what it sounded like a few moments ago.

“Dude stop fucking with him he’s not gonna answer you. Look at the poor fuck- I think he just yartzed in his fuckin’ mouth.”  _ Thanks, male.  _ Finally someone recognizes his struggle. Maybe next he’ll suggest they leave him alone.

“Unless that was just a shitty burp or something. But actually I think we need to- wait give me like two minutes and eighteen seconds.” Male. He looked down at something. 

“Wait, that's my phone, asshole!” The Jude-adjacent one grabbed something out of the male’s hands with little resistance.

“Looks like Jade’s back, let's just turn off the light and let him rest up. Maybe his stupid brain will fix itself if we let him just sleep there.” Nasally. 

“Dude you're such an ass. You know he's not gonna get a single fucking wink.” Male. 

“Don’t be so blunt as to point out our cruelty, we can't be knowingly violating the basic rights of our pee-oh-doubleyou.” Violet-eyes. 

The shadows left his field of vision. A few pairs of footsteps faded into the distance and the blinding light above his head shut off. A door slammed and Dammek was left in the dark. 

He blinked. 

His vision was shot, light blobs swimming in his sight. He groaned and hissed, wanting to rub his face, but his arms were pinned. 

_ What the fuck did they do to me? Where am I? Where is Jude? _

Three simple thoughts keeping him going. Three questions that he needed answered. His head was throbbing in pain and his thoughts seemed to swim in his pan, and it was frankly terrifying. 

Was this some kind of human tactic to get him to talk? If so, it might be working. Anything to stop the constant pain and delirium. But what did they even want?


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> another one! good job hiveswap, it's been more than a thousand days, and you've got your sequel!
> 
> dialogue, and more jude

“Dave. You  _ seriously  _ suck at this. Let me try!” John pleaded. “Or let Rose take a crack at him.”

Dave huffed incredulously. “Fuck no, man. He would probably  _ literally _ die after 3 minutes with Rose. Feel free to go at him, but interrogation is waaaay harder than you think it is, dude.”

“You haven't gotten  _ anything _ out of him?” Jade’s rumbling tone sounded out from behind the pair. 

They whipped around, and Dave adopted a sheepish impression.

“He got a concussion after like 9 point 38 minutes into the conversation, so you have to give me a little bit of an out.”

Jade quirked up a brow.

“A concussion? Can trolls even get those?”

“That's what Rose said too! I think it’s faking.”

“I dunno, his eyes were mad unfocused.”

“Fuck off, how do  _ you _ know what troll eyes are supposed to look like?”

“Dude, I literally spent three years surrounded by trolls I think I'd know what their eyes look like-”

“Sorry to interrupt,” said Rose, who did not seem at all sorry, “but I think our guest has woken up.”

“I heard Dave got absolutely no information, after all that work I did to get him here!” Jade chirped. 

“I got  _ some _ information! Like, um, he doesn't know what beans are! And his skull is soft.”

Jade yipped out a short laugh. “I knocked him out using the floorboards, and he woke up fine, right?”

Rose smirked. “Well, you should have told us that before Dave smashed his little troll head against the tiles.”

Dave flushed. “I literally didn't even mean to! He flew back in his chair. That's why he's like. Super strapped down now.”

John gagged. “You duct-taped him to the chair, which you duct-taped to the ground.”

“Don't turn on me! You helped!”

Jade laughed heartily. “Let me go try! I did good posing as an FBI agent, I should be able to do this too!”

Dave looked a bit nervous, but John clapped Jade on the back and said “Hell yeah! Get his ass!” Before Dave could dissent.

“Ok!” She clapped her hands together. “Also! I forgot to say! You know my grandpa?”

A chorus of various “yeah?”s 

“It turns out he had a literal biological child!”

“That's fucked.” Said Dave, a twinge of sympathy in his tone. “Wait-how'd you find out?”

“He was the one harboring the troll!”

“He was what!?”

“I know! Anyway, he wouldn't stop crying and screaming and I felt bad and-”

“Jade.” Rose was stern. “Jade, I- you can’t.”

Jade’s smile dropped a little.

“I did, though! He's in the car.”

“In the car!? What the fuck Jade, how old is he?!”

“I didn't ask, it was really fast, okay?! I had to zap the troll here and go back and get him before he did anything-”

“Jesus pantshitting Christ. Seriously, fuck. I guess this whole operation just can't go as planned.”

Jade blushed deeply and averted her gaze. “If you were in my position you'd've done it too.”

Dave’s nose wrinkled. “You're starting to get contractions. Go on in with the troll, Jade. Rose and I can get Harley Jr. situated.”

Rose rolled her eyes a little, as if to say ‘ _ Thanks for volunteering me’, _ but she followed behind her brother nonetheless. 

-

Jude had decided that his life was probably over. It had been a good, solid decade. He lived it well, a fine life, surrounded by pigeons and cable television, everything a boy could ask for. Except maybe a dad, he would've liked a dad. 

The woman, or “Ms. Harley”,  _ if that was even her real name _ , in the front seat of the car was dead silent, and it seemed that the only sounds in the universe were his sniffles and the discordant bass guitar playing on the radio. 

Whenever Jude looked out the window, the never-changing scenery sent a spike of panic into his heart, and he would have to look away and catch his breath between worried sobs.  The car ride only took a few minutes, but they passed like hours between gasps and blubbering tears.  When the woman unbuckled her seatbelt and got out of the car, Jude cowered, ducking his head between his knees and putting his arms over himself. He shivered, eyes shut tight, blocking a blow that would never come. 

He heard a shifting click and and then nothing. 

Did... Did the woman had leave him in the car?! He was a child! Never leave a child locked inside a car! There was no way this woman was FBI, not if she had such a disregard for the law!

He lifted his head up slowly and gazed around. The sky was dark, and the windows were darker. He shivered again, grimacing. He could still escape this.

He tried unlocking the car from the inside, but it was no use, and no matter how vigorously he shook the handle, the car refused to open. L uckily for him, the woman hadn't bothered to take his flare gun, and though he hadn't packed any flares, the butt of the weapon was hard and solid and just what he needed to -  _ SMASH _

The glass window shattered, sending tiny particles of glass cascading into the car. Jude shrieked and jumped back, not trusting his long pants and sleeves to protect him from the tiny cutting particles.  He gazed out the open space and spotted a single, unassuming one-story home across the street from the car. Vast forest stretched across his vision and he gulped. This was becoming less “sci-fi aliens” and more “true crime kidnapping”.  He could feel his heart beating out of his chest as he crawled across the seat, the top of his head scraping uncomfortably against the car ceiling. His shoes sunk into the leather with each step, making him lose his balance. 

His heart flew into his throat as he caught himself on the ledge of the window, narrowly avoiding a face full of glass. Shakily, he put one leg out into the cold night air, accidentally catching a glimpse of the one story building once again, and saw the door open. 

His heart stopped beating. His mind raced, he needed to move, he needed to go, run,  _ run _ , just  _ move his other leg! GO! _

He pushed himself out of the window and fell to the ground, but he couldn't feel the pain. He scrambled up to his feet, feeling like he was in a dream. His head felt empty as he gazed at the two figures who had emerged from the building and noticed him.  He whipped around and bolted into the woods, his legs were light and moved relentlessly, even as branches cut up his cheeks and scratched his glasses, he kept going. He could feel his heartbeat, hard and fast, along with the rushing of the wind. 

He couldn't hear the twigs snapping under his slip-ons, couldn't hear the voices of the two strangers, couldn't hear the pattering of the rain. He couldn't even see, the darkness was only growing thicker, and the branches dragging across his face began to grow sharper. The last thing he could even register was his heart leaping into his throat as his body fell backwards and hit the forest floor. 


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> dammek.... sorry guy.

Jade swung the door open, letting it hit the wall with a crash, eliciting a pretty good full-body flinch out of the restrained troll. She let the light of the hallway illuminate her, casting a dark silhouette. She could see the recognition flash in those hazy eyes, quickly replaced by nothing as he squeezed them shut and attempted to duck his head down and hide. 

He looked to be in pretty bad shape. His hair was sticking up at odd angles, brown bruises were starting to form on his neck, poking out across where his body wasn’t covered by duct tape. Dave’s blood was still smeared across his face, dried and crusty against his cheek and still wet where it had dripped down his chin. His eyes had wickedly dark circles under them, and he looked a bit pallid and cold without his hoodie.

Yikes.

Half of Jade felt really bad for the poor thing, but most of that was drowned out by her canid instincts telling her that this was a wounded, weak animal - that she should sink her teeth right into the soft spot where his neck met his shoulder and - oh he’s looking at her again.

She wiped the bit of drool away from her mouth before fully stepping into the room and slamming the door shut. Instead of sitting in the chair across from him, she sidled over to the chair where he was strapped. She looked down at him, seeing a sort of vindictive determination struggling behind those wide, unfocused pupils.

“Hoo… you sure are locked up tight, huh?” She asked, the light reflecting off her glasses. She gave a small kick to the duct-taped chair, causing it to wobble. The troll let out a little noise of surprise, and she grinned. 

Devious instincts on full display, she put her clawed hand on his shoulder, feeling him freeze up at the contact. His skin felt odd, she mused, increasing the pressure of her claws, not totally hard like a shell, but not soft like a mammal. 

She felt a small tremor shudder through the troll’s body and looked in his eyes again, challenging. She saw a bit of rage in there, fear, too. Her smile widened. This was  _ way _ easier than Dave made it out to be. 

-

Dammek was so dead. So dead. The male was easy mode, he guessed. A small mercy by his captors. If he would have given in with him, none of this would have happened, he wouldn’t have blurred vision and there wouldn’t be a  _ giant. adult. lusus-eared BEAST. _ staring at him with hunger in her eyes. She was the first female human he’d really seen aside from the Babysitr, and he had assumed that they were less aggressive than female trolls, more like males. But he was wrong. 

The violent, bloodthirsty aura emanating from the female was making him want to cry. Like full, fat tears and a bronze flushed face type, wriggler who got separated from it’s lusus crying. He wanted out of this mess so badly. The pain in his pan, the hopelessness. He gulped again. 

He had to stay… he had to stay strong. He casually spoke with revolutionary highbloods sometimes, and he always managed to not get intimidated by them, right? God, he was so pathetic, wasn’t he? If Xefros could see him now, would he even be able to recognize him? What about Jude? He still had to escape and save him, at least find out where he was. 

The female shifted her gaze down to him, and he tried to muster the most badass, you-aint-getting-nothing-outta-me type stare he could. He couldn’t break now. Not when this…  _ bitch _ … was the last one he saw at Jude’s hive. If anything happened to him, she’d be the one to know.

He yelped as the chair shifted, and all of his badassery flew out the window as a.  _ big. adult. hand.  _ gripped his shoulder. He suppressed a fearful whine as the claws made little indentations on his chitin. He met her gaze, trying to put on a brave face, but he was just scared. Scared and hurting.

“So…” she drawled, “where should I start?” 


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> wait... plot movement? so this isn't just dammek getting beat up for 9 hours?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> horray !!! gameplay trailer AND a release date! good job dev team lol
> 
> i'll be posting two chapters on 11/25 to celebrate :)

The thing that snapped Jude awake wasn't a pair of snapping fingers, a slap, not even a bucket of cold water splashed onto his face. He woke up because his foot was cold. Such a mundane thing, something that could be easily fixed by pulling his blanket a little bit to cover himself. But as he slowly gained awareness, he realized.

He was not in bed at all, he wasn't even at home. He was… he was moving? ..but he wasn't touching the ground, not walking anywhere. He could feel pressure - the distinct sensation of his weight being supported. But it seemed so unfamiliar. 

He hadn't been carried for a long time. Roxy would sometimes carry him when he was younger, give him piggy-back rides just to show off that she could. Joey used to drag him across the carpet by his ankles until the blood rushed to his head and left him a giggling mess. But that was before, and now when he fell asleep watching TV, he woke up on the couch. 

But, again, he tried to remind himself, he wasn't at home. He was… out in the woods somewhere… and he was running away from...

Eyes snapped open and frenzied, Jude screamed. And it hurt. His throat felt so hoarse, bloodied. His voice seemed to tear out of him, and he writhed. His flailing limbs knocked away the hands, and he fell, flat on his back onto damp, muddy grass. 

His heart was pounding so hard, so hard, he thought he’d  _ escaped _ , he’d run out of the car and made it to the woods and, and he could get back home and he could… he could get help, and he could, he should've made it out, he made it to the woods they shouldn't have been able to find him, and

He felt something hard jab into his stomach, not so forceful as to make him lose his breath, but enough to startle him. He squinted above him, a new wave of cold fear rushing through him as he realized  _ his glasses were gone, and there was not one. But two. people. standing. over him. and he. couldn't . do . a thing. and. he . he was going to die here and god he didn't want this, he didn't, he was going to die. die for real die, it's not a game or a story or a tv show, no, he was going to be killed out in the woods, wet, cold, alone, by two strangers without a single thought and he was so  _

“Uh….” 

Jude’s attention shifted outward, body tense, mind racing. Was it a man speaking? The voice he heard was different from the woman who had invaded his home.

“You're awake now, right? We don't have to…” The man paused. 

Jude’s hands were brought up in front of himself, and he hadn't even realized when he'd done it. He was still laying there, flat on his back, with his hands in front of his face like he was about to get punched by some bully. 

“...carry you. You can walk, right? C’mon, get up.”

What? Get up?

“Yeah, uh. Unless you want us to… keep carrying you. Which is fine.”

He felt his face flush, embarrassed despite the dire situation. 

The man reached a hand out, and despite himself, Jude took it. He was just pissing himself in fear a few seconds ago, but… maybe there was hope. That he could get out of this. If he just followed along. 

And maybe, if he played his cards right, he’d be led straight to Dammek. 

He was pulled up to his feet easily, although his arm did hurt a bit as it bore the weight of his body. As he stumbled to his feet, he looked up at his captors (saviors?). A man, and a woman, it seemed. Both of them with very white hair, that sort of gleamed in the dim moonlight. The man was wearing aviators, not too dissimilar to Dammek, and the woman’s face looked oddly familiar. Something about the shape of her nose, maybe? His vision was too blurry to make anything out, and he jumped when she spoke.

“Have you gotten a good enough look at us yet? Or would you like a few pictures so you can skip the police sketch interview?” 

Jude's cold, jittery fear had yet to settle, and the mention of the police only strengthened the wild beating of his heart.

“I won't go to the police, I promise, can you just let me go? Please?” He wasn't above begging. If they let him go, he could call for Roxy, and she’d know what to do. 

The woman’s slight smile faded. She stepped a bit closer to him, causing him to stumble backwards and fall on his rear. 

She frowned deeply. “We won't hurt you.” Her soft, accented speech sounded a bit pained. “Just come with us and we’ll get you home.”

She reached out and picked him up by the armpits, causing him to yelp a bit, but he ultimately managed to stay upright after she released him. She still wore that odd frown, but she motioned at the man and spoke.

“Follow him, I’ll be right behind. You have nothing to fear from us.”

Jude detected a bit of condescension in her tone, but couldn't understand if it was because he was a child, or if she was being legitimately deceitful. 

But he followed her command and limped over to the man who had already begun to walk. The man glanced behind his back every so often, obviously nervous. 

Jude’s shoeless sock was starting to become wet with muddied water. 


	7. Chapter 7

Getting the kid into the house was actually more difficult  _ after _ he’d regained consciousness. For some inane reason, Rose had left him alone to lead the kid all the way back to the house. In the rain, in the middle of the night.

Dave didn't feel the same kind of things that he used to when he was 13. He knew it was cold, was wet, but he couldn't  _ feel _ it. And so he kept looking at the kid, who was definitely exhausted and terrified and cold, and he didn't know what to do.

He looked a lot like Jake, from what he’d seen of him, same oversized front teeth, and his hair seemed to flip up in a similar way, even underneath the rain and mud and twigs. He wrenched his head back to the front. He had to stop looking over his shoulder… He seriously had to stop.

But he  _ knows _ that kid is so cold… He and Rose had been carrying him stretcher style, trying not to drag him through the mud… But he could probably carry him on his own, like, he doesn't really know  _ how _ he would carry the kid but something to keep him off the ground… He just looks so miserable, and

His phone rang. 

\--

Following behind the man was slowly rising the ranks as one of the worst ten minutes of Jude’s life. Just staring fuzzily at the guy's back, trudging along, his heart jumping every time the guy looked at him (which was constantly). 

When he heard a loud ringing noise, he nearly fell down out of surprise. The man took something out of his pants pocket, and brought it to his ear.

_ What was that…? A phone?  _ He couldn't make it out at all, but his suspicions were confirmed somewhat when the man started talking into it with a simple “Hey”.

“Yeah, we found him.”

_ He's talking about me. They’re talking about me.  _

“...No, Rose fucked off somewhere,”

Jude cringed at the language, but his analytical mind took in the information readily. The woman from before was probably “Rose”. Got it. 

“...said she’d come back soon though.”

The man was quiet for a long time after that, probably two whole minutes of him steadily walking with his hand to his ear,

Jude got so used to the silence that he jumped when the man spoke again. 

“Uh… ok, well I’ll see what I can do about that.”

He sounded nervous.

“No, but could you get some blankets, or something, maybe some food for the kid? It's cold out here.”

That confused Jude immensely, but also made him feel a bit more optimistic about his situation. Maybe he'd get out of this, and these two were actually going to help him, and maybe he could get their help in saving Dammek,

“I know she’s not really able to do anything right now, I was asking you, asshole.”

More foul language. But it was ok, Jude could handle a potty-mouth, really. Dammek’s language wasn't all too clean, anyway, and he’d gotten acquainted with more than a few profanities. 

“Ok, yeah we’ll be there in a few. Get a few chairs too, clean ones. Yeah. … no it’s not my fault, just get new ones. Ok, yeah, yeah, bye.”

He put the thing back in his pocket and there was more silence. At least Jude knew that they were close. And there'd be chairs, but he was a bit worried why they needed to be specifically clean.

“So you heard all that, right?” The man stopped walking, and Jude nearly ran into him.

He turned around and looked down at him. Jude tried to swallow his fear, and shakily nodded. 

The man glanced over Jude’s head, and he looked… stoic. In a better situation, Jude would have said he looked cool.

“Good, good. I’m gonna take you in there, and you're gonna sit down and eat whatever we got, and then you're gonna get asked some questions, and then we’ll take you back home, hear me?”

Fear and relief mingled in his veins. He nodded.

The man looked down at him again. 

“You're a brave little guy, yeah?”

Jude couldn't bring himself to nod at that, but he did manage a little sigh as the man turned around and started walking again.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> remember - this is a double update, so if you're jumping to the newest chapter - go back and read 7 before this one lol

“Jade! Fucking stop- Jade! Calm down! Stop it!”

Bringing his sister-cousin down from some kind of fucking manic dog frenzy was something John never thought he’d have to do. 

Sure sometimes her Bec would come out and she'd chase Jaspersprite around for hours, but she'd always come down from those by herself, and he never thought she’d go fucking feral!

He had to drag her out of the interrogation room  _ screaming! _ She was screaming, he was screaming, the troll was screaming! It was awful!

And now she wouldn't stop growling and snapping at his hands as he tried to pap her face. She was crackling with that green spatial energy and he was beginning to worry that she was going to go into some kind of grimbark spiral again. 

“Jade, stop, stop fucking trying to bite me! Stop it! Bad- bad girl!” 

She was covered in troll blood, too. Just, everywhere, bronze. Around her mouth, her hands, splattered all over that nice dress shirt she'd gotten brand new. just. God it was sickening to look at. And it smelled like blood, like human blood, just all that metallic tang and rot and BLECH. 

She managed to sink her teeth into his hand as he failed to put a hand over her mouth, and the blood just positively gushed. 

He shouted, of course, because no matter how many times you get stabbed, or crushed, or beaten, it still fucking  _ hurts _ . 

“Ow! Let go!” He slapped her forehead with his other palm, trying to rip his hand out of her mouth, but she wouldn't release it.

She seemed content to grind it between her teeth as John shouted expletives at her and pushed at her face. 

He finally slapped her across the cheek, which made her yelp like a dog and release his hand. 

The clouds in her eyes cleared, and she looked at John with confusion. “What happened?” She asked blearily, bringing her hand to the cheek he’d slapped. 

John was kind of pissed. Of course, she wouldn't remember what happened. So he couldn't really be mad at her, because she wasn't in control of her actions. And she might get really upset if she learned that she'd tried to kill their hostage, and nearly tore off John’s hand in the process. But he kind of didn't care if she got upset.

And so he said. 

“Figure it out, Jade.” With the driest look he could muster. 

\--

One conjuring of a shower later, he was calling Dave. The line picked up almost instantly.

“Hey” His tone was short. 

“Is Harley Jr okay?”

“Yeah, we found him.” 

Oh wow. Just a sentence. Dave  _ had  _ to be so fucking nervous right now.

“Can I talk to your sister? You seem kinda… messed up right now, man.”

“No, Rose fucked off somewhere, said she’d come back soon though.”

Oh, that makes sense. She left him to lead the kid all the way back to the house by himself. How cruel of her. He’ll keep that one filed away next time he wanted to rile her up. 

“Ok, then, well, a lot happened while you two were gone, Jade went batshit insane and tore the troll apart, I don't think he's dead though, but I don't really know what to do, there was blood everywhere though.

“And she wouldn't snap out of it, and she bit me like suuuper hard. I bandaged it myself for the time being, but I don't know shit about trolls so I wanted to wait for you or Rose to get back, because I don't think we want our hostage to bleed out before we can get information, right?”

“Uh… ok, well I’ll see what I can do about that.”

John sighed loudly. “Yeah, yeah. Let’s just hope whatever you try works. Did anything happen to you guys?”

“No, but could you get some blankets, or something, maybe some food for the kid? It's cold out here.”

“Uh, Jade’s in the shower right now, not really able to do anything right now…” 

“I know she’s not really able to do anything right now, I was asking you, asshole.”

“Fucking fiine, I’ll see what I can find, but you so owe me!” 

“Ok, yeah” 

God, he was really rushing through this conversation.

“We’ll be there in a few. Get a few chairs too, clean ones.”

“Clean ones?” 

“Yeah”

“‘S your fault they're dirty in the first place!” 

“No, it’s not my fault, just get new ones.”

He sounded mad. What was up with him? Jesus, Dave really could be sensitive sometimes.

John couldn't even get another word in before

“Ok, yeah, yeah, bye.”

And the line went dead. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tysm to all of you guys who are writing comments and leaving kudos!! - it's really fueling me lol! i banged out a few advance chapters so keep an eye out for new ones this week/next week :)))


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> you want more jude? no? well youre getting more jude... also this is 90% dialogue. oops

Passing the car he’d just escaped what seemed like a few minutes ago, Jude cautiously stepped into the little house. The man had been kind enough to hold open the door for him, and the rush of warm air felt ridiculously good. 

It looked like a normal midwestern home on the inside, all neutral walls and not-so-soft carpet. The man didn't bother to take off his shoes, so Jude continued to follow him into a room that looked like a kitchen. 

Is this really just a house? Where were the giant computers, or the satanic ritual room?  _ Probably the basement _ , he mused, as the man directed him to sit down at the table. 

“Here, this is… hot water.” The man gave him a steaming mug. “I’ll go get you a blanket, but you  _ have _ to wait here, understand?” 

Jude nodded, holding the mug tightly, relishing in the warmth returning to his icy fingers. He was tempted, so, so tempted to leave the room, to explore, to uncover the secrets of this house, to  _ find Dammek, he knows he's being kept here somewhere, _ but the fear of what would happen to him should he disobey kept him sipping at his mugfull of water. 

Instead of the man returning, a woman appeared in the doorway, which startled him into spilling water all over the table. He couldn't make out her expression as she approached, but he could imagine it was scathing. 

“You dropped these.” She said, the odd, lilted accent bleeding her words into a condescending tone. 

When he didn't respond, she leaned in closer, causing him to shrink back and close his eyes in anticipation.

But he only felt the return of a familiar weight, and when he opened his eyes, he could see again! Yes! 

He blinked a few times, a bit dizzy from relief. Now that he had his glasses, he'd be able to function enough to help, right? 

The woman - Rose, he remembered - was giving him an amused look, and now that he could see her features clearer, she looked very familiar. But he couldn't place it.

She had the same kind of jaw as the man who’d led him here, not sharp, but not rounded or traditionally feminine. Maybe that was it… He absently rubbed his chin as he got lost in his pondering. Was it the shape of her nose? Not pointy, a wider bridge…

His musings were cut short when she set a bowl of plain-looking broth in front of him and took a seat across the table. He shifted, nervous under her scrutinizing gaze. 

“Well, my name is Rose. I should ask you a few questions, or do you think otherwise?”

Jude put down his mug. 

“Uh, you can ask me any question, Ms Rose. I’m Jude, uh, Jude Harley.”

“It's Mrs, and I know. You're aware of why you're here, right?”

“Uh, not really, Mrs Rose.”  _ Because my alien friend got STOLEN from my HOUSE by some fake FBI agent! And then she kidnapped me!  _

“I see. That was a bit of a trick question, Jude, you’re really not supposed to be here. You should be at home still watching those silly little movies of yours. And we deeply apologize for putting you through all this, really.” 

_ That didn't answer anything, and now he was more confused. Did that mean Dammek had nothing to do with it? What?! _

“You're probably thinking, ‘well, why did the alien I was keeping in my basement get taken away from me?’ Right?”

Jude nodded despite himself, causing Rose’s lip to quirk up. 

“These aliens - trolls - they're a warmongering race, and we needed to take necessary precautions.”

Tears sprung to Jude's eyes and his lip quivered. He was going to start bawling. 

“Hush, let me finish”

But he didn't. 

“Let him go! Please, please he didn't do anything! Don't hurt him, please! Just let him go!” He sobbed, helpless. The plain soup suddenly smelled sickening to him, and the warmth in his stomach turned to nausea as he pleaded for his only friend’s life in a homey little kitchen.

He felt something light fall over his shoulders, followed by the weight of adult hands. He shut up, but couldn't stop sniffling.

“God- God damnit Rose!” 

That was new. That didn't sound like the man from before at all. No southern accent, for starters. He lifted his head shakily and looked up at the man.

He looked a lot like dad. That was the first thought that came to mind. Which was weird, because his dad was  _ old, _ and this guy was not. 

He was animated in his posture and his gestures as he conversed with Rose. Jude couldn't really hear what he was saying though, it all became muddled, and his thoughts were growing a bit fuzzy. He felt lightheaded, all of a sudden, as he felt his field of vision start to slide downwards. 

_ Oh, _ Jude mused.  _ It must be the teeth. They’re all bucky like dad’s. And mine. _

-

The kid’s head dropped into the bowl of soup. It was hilarious, almost cartoonish, the way his forehead hit the rim and caused it to upend and splash over him, spilling all over the table and dripping viscously to the floor.

So John stopped chiding Rose and laughed. 

She smacked him upside the head, causing John to whine out a over exaggerated “owww!” as he shuffled over to where the kid had just... gone

limp.

Propping him back up into his chair, John could see that the kid’s glasses were coated in broth, but not broken, and he was still breathing well. 

John sighed and gestured to their sleeping “guest”, as if to say ‘Are you seeing this shit, Rose?’

She answered him with a steady look of contempt. 

“I swear, nothing can ever be simple with you guys! We should have just gone and killed the troll-”

Rose’s frown grew deeper.

“-no questions asked! Now Dave is in there with it, trying to make it  _ not _ die! I mean, what is even our goal here?”

“John, what do you mean “Dave is in there trying to make it. ‘Not die’?” Her tone was steady.

“Oh, I thought Dave would have told you already, Jade absolutely tore into the guy! There’s blood everywhere in there, but I think trolls are ok, even if they lose a few limbs, right?”

John watched as something in Rose shifted and clicked into place. His smile dimmed a little.

“Uh… I did manage to get Jade off him, though. She bit me, look!”

He waved his bandaged hand in her face, trying to get Rose’s eyes to shift their stare away from his. 

She slowly looked down at his hand and then drifted her gaze back to his eyes.

“Do.  _ Not _ . Tell that boy. A single, god damned, thing, John.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think I'm weakest at writing Rose ahah................. TYSM FOR THE COMMENTS AHHH also this is super late school hit me like a brick


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